District 1 Community Council Blog

Congratulations to District 1 on winning a grant for a community-designed mural at Eastview Rec Center. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. We will be starting this project in February and painting this summer!

We are also pleased to announce that we received an anonymous donation through the United Way donor designated funds of over $4000 for our programming.

We are grateful to our funders, large and small, for their confidence in both our mission and our fiscal responsibility. Our community benefits when we work together for each other!

Preparations for deer management activities in southeast Ramsey County start this week, and management will continue through March. The affected management area includes County parkland, Saint Paul’s Highwood neighborhood, and south Maplewood. The recommended, healthy, urban deer population for the management area is 21 to 28 deer. During the most recent aerial survey, land managers recorded 111 deer. The current deer population exceeds the carrying capacity of the management area, fourfold. Deer populations in excess of carrying capacity in urban environments often result in damage to ornamental and garden plants, high rates of deer/vehicle collisions and damage or excessive browsing to native trees, shrubs and plants.

Ramsey County, the City of Saint Paul, and the City of Maplewood have worked cooperatively on deer management in Ramsey County since 1999. As a part of this cooperative effort, the organizations have performed aerial monitoring of the herd, implemented wildlife feeding ordinances, and performed special permit archery hunts in the county.

During the winter of 2017/2018 deer management activities will be accomplished in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Wildlife Services division.The mission of USDA APHIS Wildlife Services (WS) is to provide Federal leadership and expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts to allow people and wildlife to coexist. WS conducts program delivery, research, and other activities through its Regional and State Offices, the National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) and its Field Stations, as well as through its National Programs.

Wildlife Services sharpshooters will be operating on or adjacent to public lands where permission from affected landowners has been obtained. The management locations have been selected with safety for firearms discharge as the number one priority. Wildlife Services will coordinate their activities with local law enforcement.Control activities will take place primarily after dark, utilizing special precautions including the use of night and thermal vision equipment, and will likely go unnoticed by most area residents.

All deer removed in this program will be donated to underserved residents of Ramsey County in coordination with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The removal program will cost approximately $13,000 and is being funded jointly by the Ramsey County, the City of Maplewood, and the City of Saint Paul.

There has been an uptick in motor vehicle thefts in the D1 neighborhoods over the past couple of weeks. Please remember that it is a violation to leave your car running but unattended (warming up...) and an invitation for car thieves to take your car. Most thefts like this are opportunistic - someone sees an easy opportunity and makes a (BAD) judgement to take it.

Also this time of year, it is not uncommon to leave packages in the passenger section of the car after shopping. Also an invitation... do not leave anything of value, or what may be mistaken as value - such as shopping bags or boxes - visible inside your car. Don't try to cover them up either - lock them away in the trunk or, better still, get them inside with you.

The District 1 Community Council Board of Directors met on November 26, 2017 in a session to learn more about the financial workings of the organization and to approve the budget and workplan for 2018. Board members heard from our bookkeeper and our executive director about how finances are handled, their responsibilities for oversight, and about the safeguards in place to assure proper management of funds.

The workplan for the coming year includes a process to re-brand the organization, and to implement our equity plan, developed this year.

As a note regarding that equity work, District 1 and five of its sister organizations received an award last week for the Equity Strategic Planning we did - the Local Government Innovation Award - City category. We are grateful to the Humphrey School and the Bush Foundation for this award. We will forge ahead with our implementation with additional funding from the City and the award itself.

The District 1 Community Council would like to acknowledge a major donation from H. and Val J. Rothschild Inc. - a donation to our organization for the benefit of the Heritage Estates and Hillsberry 94 Apartments in District 1.

Without the support of our residents and businesses, District 1 cannot continue to do the work needed to assure that ALL our residents have their voices heard on issues that concern the future of us all.

Many thanks to H. and Val J. Rothschild Inc. for their generous donation!

Call to Order of the Board: 6:30 pm by Council President Paul Sawyer. Agenda Items:Seating of New Board Members – An email vote on nominees for two vacant board seats was sent to the board.Paul Sawyer announced the new board members Amina Samatara and Michael Francis. Approved by email.Voter Education – Ranked Choice VotingGao Nou Vang from Fair Vote Minnesota, presented a brief explanation of Ranked Choice Voting.Opened to questions. Asked and answeredOld Business: Code of Conduct – Three members have not signed the statement. Two have provided written notification that they won’t sign.Presented by Paul Sawyer.A draft policy will be brought back to our board for the next meeting. Discussion took place.New Business: Financial Reports – Month of September and the end of 1st quarter reports – Presented by the Treasurer, Tony ParrishMoved by Paul Sawyer, Seconded by Matt Barrett, Discussion, Approved on Voice Vote

Draft Budget and Workplan – Proposed budget and workplan for 2018. - Presented by Executive Director, Betsy Leach Opened to discussion.Committee Reports:Land Use – Presented by Paul Sawyer on behalf of John Slade· Gold Line Hazel Street Study led by MET Council is summarizedCOSCo (Communications) – Presented by Matt Barrett· Newspaper continuation was discussed· Communication plan is under development· GRANT for rebranding of District 1 – history and process presentedo HGA provided pro bono services

Fund RaisingUpdate– Presented by Bonnie WatkinsBoard agreed to include re-branding in the 2018 workplan.Draft Resolution: Police Training Facility and Accountability, Presented by ED, Betsy Leach; this was a joint effort with several other district councils.

At the October board meeting, Amina Samatar and F. Michael Francis were appointed to fill vacant seats on the board. These seats were left vacant with the resignations of Pang Moua and Amin Omar in late August/early September. Amina and Michael will serve out the remainder of this year (ending in March 2018) and then there will be a regular election at our Annual Meeting.

There will be further news of meeting when the minutes are available.

​Our next meeting will be a working session of the board that will include leadership development opportunities for our board members as we learn more about nonprofit financial reports, will and include approval of our 2018 workplan and budget.

We've completed the majority of our lane striping work on I-94 between St. Paul and Maplewood, and just in time for some anticipated wintery weather later this week.However, this project’s not done yet! We’re still working in the area through mid-November, and there are some necessary traffic impacts that will coincide with this work.

Road closureToday (Oct. 26) throughTue, Oct. 31

Hudson Pl. to McKnight Rd is closed to allow construction crews to complete finishing touches. The detour for neighborhood traffic is Hudson Pl. to Crestview Dr. to Brookview Dr. to Century Ave.

Ramp closure updatesThe following ramps are now open to traffic:

White Bear Ave. to WB I-94

Hudson Rd. to WB I-94 (the far east on-ramp in front of 3M)

New–7 a.m. to 7 p.m.Mon, Oct. 30

Northbound Hwy 61 to Etna St. will be closed to allow crews to repave the ramp. Please use alternate routes during this time.

ThroughSat, Oct. 28

Ruth St. to WB I-94 is closed

Hudson Rd. to WB I-94 (the far west on-ramp in front of 3M) is closed

These closures are necessary to allow crews to remove the temporary merge area and install curb and gutter at the bottom of each entrance ramp.Through early November

SB Hwy 61/Etna St. to EB I-94 and NB Hwy 61 to EB I-94 are closed. Crews are installing curb and gutter and repaving the entrance ramp.

The right lane on northbound Hwy 120/Century Ave. from Brookview Dr. to 3M/Innovation Rd. hastemporarily re-opened. However, sometime early next week, crews will need to again close the right lane to pave the multi-use trail and to install a railing in the area under the I-94 overpass. This is anticipated to be a one-day closure.Also,expect brief left lane closures on Hwy 120/Century Ave. between Brookview Dr. and 3M/Innovation Rd. onMon, Oct. 30 and Tues, Oct. 31to allow crews to reconstruct the medians both north and south of the interstate.Note:Motorists will have at least one travel lane in both directions on Hwy 120/Century Ave. at all times during this work.We will provide an update as more information and approximate time frames become available.

​Today, Saint Paul Public Works began its city-wide fall street sweeping. It takes approximately four weeks to sweep all 870 miles of streets in Saint Paul. To find out when your street will be swept, use the interactive map at www.stpaul.gov/sweep. The sweeping schedule is subject to weather delays.

Residents are advised to look out for temporary parking restrictions – so our crews can sweep the entire street. No Parking signs will be posted 48 hours prior to the street being swept.

For questions regarding either the sweeping schedule or the parking restrictions, residents can contact Public Works at (651)-266-9700.

Adopt a Drain - Residents can also help protect our waterways by adopting a storm drain. By keeping storm drains free of debris (including leaves...) you help the environment, keep streets from unnecessary backups, and you will have a cleaner neighborhood. Sign up to adopt a drain at www.stpaul.gov/adoptadrain.

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm by Council President, Paul Sawyer.

The first presentation was about the Mayoral Forums being planned by the League of Women Voters. There are a series of forums across the City by the League (as well as by other organizations). The dates, times and places of these forums are listed on the D1 Calendar on this website (under the News tab).

The second presentation was by the Ramsey County Aging Commission. This group is working with residents from across Ramsey County, but working closely with Saint Paul. The D1 Board waspresented a proposition from the commission entitled, Healthy Aging in Minnesota. Because the district councils are involved with Land Use (zoning) issues, they play a role in being able to create Livable Communities for All Ages. The goal of the Ramsey County Commission is to connect services for elders to each other and to get information about these services to the public and to district councils. In dealing with land use, district councils should consider how to bring people together through transportation and should be planning to provide activities for seniors in their areas. The D1 Board will write a letter of support for this Commission work to Saint Paul officials writing the Comprehensive Plan. This Plan guides decisions that the City makes about funding and initiatives.

The rest of the meeting involved board business. The board approved financial reports and made formal resolutions to approve our annual financial reports to the Federal and State Government. During the discussion staff proposed training for the board to explain and get a better understanding of what is included in our financial reports.

Each Committee is now given a few minutes at the board meeting to update the rest of the board on their activities. This will be an on-going agenda item.

We had two board members resign their seats for personal reasons. The Council is letting the public know of the vacancies and will accept nominations until October 11. The Executive Committee will send the full board a list of nominees and allow email voting so the new members can be seated prior to the October meeting when we begin to discuss budget and workplan for 2018. These appointees will have to run again at the March election.

We revisited the code of conduct form that we are expecting each board member to sign. The Code of Conduct outlines behaviors expected of every board member and behaviors that are not allowed and will result in dismissal from the board. These are standard forms that help guarantee the proper governance of any nonprofit.

President Sawyer stressed that board members are all here for the same reason – to make the community a better place for everyone. Understanding board and staff responsibilities, and how we work together is important for the health of the organization. Questions were raised about how we report what we do. Staff explained the reasoning behind how we report our activities to the public.

We had a good turnout of residents for our pedestrian safety event on White Bear Avenue this afternoon. With the help of SPPD, staff from both District 1 and Saint Paul Urban Tennis, and the neighbors, we began our efforts to educate pedestrians and drivers on the use of the HAWK (high-intensity activated crosswalk) signal. This signal will help the bikes and pedestrians using the Margaret Street bicycle boulevard to safely cross White Bear ASSUMING that both the cross-ers and the drivers understand the rules.

​Anyway, thanks to everyone who came out! Thanks for making our streets safer!

​Donate gently used or new bikes. Saturday, Oct. 7, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Allina Health knows healthy habits start early. If your child has outgrown their bike, let another child grow into it. Allina Health is partnering with Free Bikes 4 Kidz to give bikes to kids in need. Donate gently used or new child or adult bikes Saturday, Oct. 7, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at most Allina Health hospitals and clinics. The first 50 donors at each location get a free T-shirt. Volunteers are also needed this fall to prepare bikes for their new owners. Learn how you can get involved at FB4K.org or allinahealth.org

Travis Bistodeau, Deputy Director at the Department of Safety & Inspections, is working on a change to the backyard chickens ordinance to streamline the permitting process. He is offering to meet with district councils who have any questions/concerns regarding these changes. He’s hoping to get these changes in front of the council by 10/18/17 and the final reading by 11/8/17. Here’s a brief summary of what’s being explored:· New owners of flocks containing six or fewer female chickens must only notify adjacent property owners that they intend to keep chickens. Currently, any property owner that wants to have backyard chickens must obtain consent from 75% of neighbors who own property within 150’ of the applicant. Under the proposed ordinance, applicants who want seven or more chickens will still need to obtain 75% approval from nearby owners.· Limits the total number of chickens to a flock of no more than 15 female chickens. The current ordinance sets no limit on the number of backyard chickens allowed.· Allows the owners of chickens to compost chicken waste and litter on-site, which must then be used on-site only. The current ordinances prohibits the composting of chicken waste or litter.· The permit fee for obtaining backyard chickens would be significantly reduced for new applicants who propose obtaining three or more, but less than six, backyard chickens. Fees for applicants that have 1-3 or 7 or more chickens would remain the same as the current ordinance.He can be reached at travis.bistodeau@ci.stpaul.mn.us.

Next Tuesday, October 3 from 2-3p, District 1 folks are invited to join the SP Police Department and County officials as we demonstrate how the new HAWK (high-intensity activated crosswalk) system will work to make crossing White Bear Avenue safer for pedestrians and bikers.The new signal is at Margaret Street and White Bear Avenue and we will be holding a "STOP FOR ME" event, educating drivers about the crosswalk rule and making sure that bikes and pedestrians use the crossing correctly and safely.Join us as we walk back and forth across the street at this FIRST IN THE COUNTY type of crossing!!Getting more of us out walking and biking increases our own health, makes our neighborhoods safer, and gives us a chance to say "Hi!"

​District 1 is happy to have worked with County Commissioner McDonough and the City of Saint Paul, to make this transportation FIRST happen in our neighborhood!